."..I WANT THE READER TO FEEL AS IF THEY'RE THERE.": AN INTERVIEW WITH RETURN TO SENDER'S CRAIG JOHNSON

In the latest Walt Longmire novel, the Wyoming sheriff goes looking for a missing mail carrier who travels the longest route in the country, a search that takes him into The Red Desert for one odd adventure. Craig was able to take some questions about writing, Wyoming, and women.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: A mail route over three hundred miles long, is a great element for any story, particularly a mystery. How did you learn about it?

CRAIG JOHNSON: It’s no secret that I tend to use newspaper articles as catalysts for my novels and Return To Sender isn’t any different. There was an article in Cowboy Daily News about a woman in Wyoming with the longest postal route in the country and I was immediately intrigued. The area she covers is roughly the size of Maryland, and all I could think was that if she went missing, where would you look for her? 

S.M.: You use a section of Wyoming I wasn't familiar with, The Red Desert. What did the setting provide for you?

C.J.: This letter carrier’s route was in the vicinity of the Red Desert which is an area in the state that I’m not that familiar with either, which is always a great excuse to go exploring. Who knew that Wyoming was home to the largest living sand dunes in the United States? I would’ve thought that topographic distinction would’ve gone to Arizona, New Mexico or Texas, but here it is right here in Wyoming. We’re the least populated state in the US, but there are areas in Wyoming that are even more desolate than others and the Red Desert is one of those. It’s an amazing place with some incredible features that I wanted to make a gift of to my readers.

S.M.: Due to the nature of the investigation, Walt is often by himself. As someone known for their dialogue, how do you deal with this challenge?

C.J.: You know, the industry reviews for the book just came out and all they did was talk about the illustrative passages… I’ve always thought that my strength was in dialogue, but that makes me try harder on the descriptives mostly because I want the reader to feel as if they’re there. I think it’s your job to find new ways of describing things that make them pop in the reader’s mind. In balance with that, I have to admit that I still admire Walt and enjoy being in his head after twenty years and just because there’s nobody around doesn’t mean he's not thinking.

S.M.: Because of this, Dog plays an important role. What advice would you give about writing animal characters?

C.J.: That was pretty much a calculated feature in the books all the way back when I realized I was writing about an armed man in a relatively isolated area and could either have him talk to himself or talk to his dog. Well, armed people that talk to themselves somewhat alarm me, so I decided to have the good sheriff talk to his dog. As pet owners, we’re all experts on cross-species communication, but I guess the trick is in not getting too cute with it. As humans we really don’t know for sure what animals are thinking and can only surmise, but the relationships formed in those suppositions can be pretty insightful and funny—stick with that and don’t become a Walt Disney cartoon. 

S.M.: A character I enjoyed was Tess Anderson, the postal inspector from Colorado. It made me realize that as a male author you often take the opportunity to write for a female character any time you can. What do you enjoy about writing for your opposite gender?

C.J.: Guilty as charged, I’ve always found the female half of our species more interesting. Men can be predictable a lot of the times, but not women. I think you can reveal a lot about yourself when you write twenty-one novels and it’s pretty obvious, I really like women and enjoy having them as characters in my books. Heck, the structure of the entire series has Walt as a central character, but he’s then surrounded by all these women who keep him alive—which sounds unsettlingly familiar in my life.  

S.M/: Has it made you an expert on women?

C.J.: Alas, Judy my wife of twenty-seven years, says no…

I will be talking with Craig further in a live conversation at The Sunset Hills Barnes & Noble, June 18th, 6pm. It's a ticket event, so contact the store at 512- 892-4393